1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to optical transceivers and optical transceiver host computing systems (hereinafter referred to simply as “host”). More specifically, the present invention relates to a method for optical transceiver hosts to change the host interface address of multiple optical transceiver modules.
2. The Relevant Technology
Computing and networking technology have transformed our world. As the amount of information communicated over networks has increased, high speed transmission has become ever more critical. Many high speed data transmission networks rely on optical transceivers and similar devices for facilitating transmission and reception of digital data embodied in the form of optical signals over optical fibers. Optical networks are thus found in a wide variety of high speed applications ranging from as modest as a small Local Area Network (LAN) to as grandiose as the backbone of the Internet.
Typically, data transmission in such networks is implemented by way of an optical transmitter (also referred to as an electro-optic transducer), such as a laser or Light Emitting Diode (LED). The electro-optic transducer emits light when current is passed therethrough, the intensity of the emitted light being a function of the current magnitude. Data reception is generally implemented by way of an optical receiver (also referred to as an optoelectronic transducer), an example of which is a photodiode. The optoelectronic transducer receives light and generates a current, the magnitude of the generated current being a function of the intensity of the received light.
Various other components are also employed by the optical transceiver to aid in the control of the optical transmit and receive components, as well as the processing of various data and other signals. For example, such optical transceivers typically include a driver (e.g., referred to as a “laser driver” when used to drive a laser signal) configured to control the operation of the optical transmitter in response to various control inputs. The optical transceiver also generally includes an amplifier (e.g., often referred to as a “post-amplifier”) configured to perform various operations with respect to certain parameters of a data signal received by the optical receiver. A controller circuit (hereinafter referred to as the “controller”) controls the operation of the laser driver and post amplifier.
The controller typically is coupled to an external host by a host communication interface. The external host uses the host communication interface to provide commands to the controller. The host communication interface implements an interface protocol in which each specific transceiver coupled to the host is identified by an interface address.
Optical transceivers using the same host communication interface protocol, however, share the same interface address. This has led to problems when multiple transceivers share the single host communication interface protocol such as I2C. For example, a data instruction addressed to one transceiver is addressed to all of the other transceivers using the same host communication interface protocol. A solution to this problem has been the use of a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other dedicated hardware in the host. The FPGA or other dedicated hardware act as a router by determining which of the multiple transceivers is to receive the addressed data. Implementing the dedicated hardware is often costly and ties up valuable host computing resources.
Therefore, what would be advantageous is a mechanism for the host to change the host communication interface address for each individual transceiver so that a single host communication interface may be used for communication with multiple transceivers.